Heart Tracks - The Binder

" for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned." 2 Timothy 2:9...."God cannot be kept in a box. Even one bound in leather with gilt pages."... Unknown

Not long ago I was cleaning out a much cluttered closet and came upon a teaching series I had done long ago. Everything was contained in a still shiny binder. A binder like so many other "teaching tools" used in the Church. There was "good stuff" contained in that binder, but I wondered just how many who "heard" and took part in that teaching, ever received the fullness of it into their hearts? I have been in so many homes through the years, and I would often notice how many different teaching series the people had taken part in. They were all excellent studies, authored by godly men and women, but I always wondered if, after the study concluded, did the Truth contained in them go on the shelf with the binder, or into their very hearts? I heard James Robison say that we have to get His Truth out of the binder we keep it in, even when that binder is the Bible itself. Does His Truth just gather dust on whatever "shelf" we've placed it on, or does it's power consume and saturate our very lives?

I think I've shared this before, but it bears repeating. Beth Moore told of encountering one of her "fans" at a conference she was speaking at. The woman told her of how she read all of Moore's books, took part in all of her studies, and tried to be at any of her conferences. She told Moore how much she depended on them. Moore, in love, asked her to what degree she was experiencing the truth of all that in her life? Her sad admission, "Not overly much. That was why she needed the studies and conferences." She, like so many of us, was living out what Paul said, "Always learning, but never coming to knowledge." We in the Church learn so much, but seem to "know," experience so little. The power, wonder, and reality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are locked into a binder, a book, and even a Bible. So we keep reading, we keep studying, and we keep going, but we never come fully into the reality and experience of the One who is Truth and Life.

Where is all of this true in us? Has His Truth and Life been confined to a binder on a shelf, or is it bound into our hearts? Peter Lord said, "We live what we believe. Everything else is just religious talk." Are we living what we say we believe, or, are we just speaking religious talk? Observers of our lives, especially Him, know the truth. Do we?

Blessings,
Pastor O